On Tuesday 20 November BNP Paribas closed the largest ever collateralised debt obligation issued in Japan. Lovells acted as adviser to BNP Paribas as the lead manager on the deal in London, Tokyo and Paris.

BNP Paribas is a long-standing client of Lovells and this is the fourth CDO which Lovells have closed for them this year, having advised on Riviera Finance 1 & 2 in March and August and CDO Master Investments, also in August. However, this is the first time Lovells have advised BNP Paribas from Tokyo, through the firm's recently established Tokyo based capital markets and structured finance team.

As part of the transaction, Serena sold ¥9 billion of mezzanine credit protection to BNP Paribas on a ¥90 billion basket of 90 Japanese Reference Entities. The transaction was secured on Japanese Government Bonds.

"While notably this is the largest CDO transaction of its kind in Japan to date, the deal demonstrates the international strength of Lovells' global capital markets and structured finance practice which was recently expanded through the establishment of a dedicated team in Tokyo earlier this year. Long standing clients such as BNP Paribas benefit from the global reach of the firm and the depth of experience across our offices in structured transactions such as these. We look forward to working with BNP Paribas on other similar deals, wherever they may take place."

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